Andrew Mills/The Star-LedgerShaun White soared to another snowboard gold medal on Wednesday night. WEST VANCOUVER, British Columbia – The Flying Tomato was up to his gravity-defying antics again, flipping and twisting his way to a second consecutive Olympic gold medal in the halfpipe Wednesday night. He dazzled. He amazed. He gave the Canadians a show for the ages.

Il Tomate Volante was on fire on this slab of ice.

Shaun White capped a stellar day for the American headliners at these Games with his latest feat on Cypress Mountain. Hours after skier Lindsey Vonn and speed-skater Shani Davis stood atop their respective podiums, snowboarding’s Zeus delivered.

The redhead was stoked.

“I can’t begin to tell you how many times I’ve gone over this competition in in my head,” the 23-year-old Californian said. “I can finally go to sleep now.”

White posted a 48.4 out of 50 to take the top spot ahead of silver medalist Peetu Piiroinen of Finland (45.0) and American Scotty Lago (42.8), who took bronze.

White also fulfilled his promise to land his latest trick -- the Double McTwist 1260 – a 3 1/2 revolution move with two head-over-heels flips -- on his final run.

“It was the best victory run of my life,” White said. “On this world stage, why not deliver something spectacular? I came all the way to Canada. I talked about this trick so much. I put blood, sweat and tears to land it. And you know … there it was.”

When White took flight, the rest of the baggy-jeans-wearing riders never had a chance. His runs featured back-to-back Double Cork 1080s, a trick only a handful of riders can pull off. White's first score of 46.8 in the finals clinched gold before his second run, which amounted to a victory lap.

"It's been such a long road," Roger White said of his son. "I can't believe we're here again. I don't know if he's every going to slow down."

White's coronation down the halfpipe was a perfect time to pull off the Double McTwist 1260, which he renamed “The Tomahawk."

“I can’t stand that thing,” he said, “It is my friend and my enemy.”

Nothing, of course, was a gimme. White smacked his face on the 22-foot halfpipe during a practice run last month at the X games thanks to a Double Cork gone awry. He suffered nothing more than welts before winning his second consecutive X Games gold.

The pressure was on him to perform flawlessly this time.

“Being Shaun White is not easy sometimes and definitely fun a lot of times,” he said. “Being me is a strange thing sometimes. I’m trying to get a grasp on it even now. I have fun. I have dreams. And I set out to do them. It’s what has gotten me this far and what’s going to take me further.”

White parlayed his 2006 Olympic gold into millions. According to Forbes, the soaring redhead earned $8 million in endorsement deals last year. Although White is the sport’s top-earning pitchman, hawking some gnarly gear at Target -- Puff the Magic Jacket and the Most Unholy Jacket Ever are sure to meet your winter needs -- his celebrity status has also created a divide among hardcore snowboarders. Put simply, some in the sport believe the redhead has gone rogue.

After all, White perfected his latest tricks in seclusion this winter on a half-million dollar halfpipe designed for him by Red Bull. The daredevil spent countless hours in the San Juan Mountains, honing the Double McTwist 1260 all by his lonesome. Snowboarders typically practice with each other.

But not White. Tomatoes don’t share.

White sailed though to the finals with a 45.8 score on his first qualifying run in the afternoon, saving his best for primetime. The eternal showman automatically skipped the semifinals on the strength of a relatively basic ride. White only needed one double-flipping trick to record the highest score in the qualifying round, pulling off a Frontside Double Cork 1080 to supplement a Cab 1080 and Backside 900. He kept the Double McTwist 1260 in his back pocket.

"Shaun is an amazing snowboarder," Lago said. "He works for it. He deserves everything he gets."

Fellow American Louie Vito and Japanese star Ryo Aono also skipped the semifinals with solid qualifying runs.

“To be honest, I’m more nervous in the qualifying than the finals,” White said. “It’s hard to explain, but we’ve practiced our finals run so much. These runs, you’re just in a strange limbo where you do just enough to get in but you don’t show everything.”

White would have been plenty happy even if he didn’t pull off his newest trick Wednesday night.

“I don’t think you can be too bummed with gold,” he said. “I’ll take it. I definitely felt like a righteous victory lap was in order.”